travel philadelphia, experience the world

to miami

Philadelphia connects its people to the world with its diversity and unique intercultural experiences. A great perk, though, is that Philadelphians have an airport close-by, and it’s an airport that literally connects them anywhere. We decided to take an oh-so-cliche’ spring break trip to Florida! Overall it was a trip to visit family, but we were sure to take a day for just us to explore another great city: Miami!

Miami offered us a ton of options as far as sight-seeing goes. We were able to see the ocean, plant life, and urban areas during our visit. Our first stop was Key Biscayne. Florida is not primarily thought of as an area in which to hike, but since Matt is so good at finding unique excursions, we started our day off with a hike at Key Biscayne. It was pretty flat, and we chose to take the paved path to the coast and the unpaved path back. About 3 miles round trip, it was beautiful and offered us views of new plants that we had never seen before. Photos will describe much better than my words:

After our beautiful hike, we (changed into cooler clothes and) drove to Miami Beach. Such a fun afternoon greeted us then. We ate at Las Olas Cafe’, and it was fantastic. We ordered Cuban sandwiches and walked a few blocks to eat them at a park right outside a beach. The area is amazing: long strips of your Main-Street-ish areas, with shops and restaurants lining the streets. So fun (and exhausting!).

Also grabbed gelato at one of the many dessert shops on the main strip.

Though this day was already full, we had one more stop: Wynwood. Matt also planned this piece of our day out, driven by the area’s reputation for both murals and breweries. We ended up visiting three breweries and an endless number of murals, and it was a perfect way to end our Miami adventure.

This area, Wynwood Doors, is a section of Wynwood where visitors are welcome to wander through the murals which are in a maze-like set up. It is free, and the area contains food, a gift shop, and seating throughout.

One of the best parts of Miami is that it offers a ton of great food that is neither fancy or expensive. From the Cuban sandwiches in Miami Beach to the tacos here at Coyo Taco (for which we waited on a super long, totally-worth-it line), the food was phenomenal.

This post contains mostly pictures due to the fact that Miami is a place that you simply have to see. It was so much fun. We would definitely recommend going to the smaller places if you are looking for less crowds and touristy spots. The city is full of hidden gems and I am sure that we would find a tons more if we had the chance to explore again!